Retro Thing

The Most Stylish Speakers In Existence?

The FH007 is a compact version of the exotic £10,000 Ferguson Hill FH001 speaker system, intended for the "consumer market." Presumably, that means those of us without trust funds or royal titles.

That said, the FH007 (£395) is probably the most beautiful multimedia audio system ever conceived. The 5-piece powered speaker system is designed and manufactured by UK audio specialist Ferguson Hill for use with computers, mp3 players, and video game units, although it'll function admirably with a hi-fi receiver as well.

The distinctive loudspeaker horns are cast from transparent acrylic, as are the spherical bass speakers. The system is powered by a compact aluminum cube that houses a bi-amped class A/B, 16W x 4 solid state amplifier.

With low-end frequency response down to 75 Hz, this little system isn't designed to shake the floorboards. For that, you'll need to invest an additional £275 for the FH008 subwoofer, which offers 100W per channel and grants you the ability to annoy the bejesus out of your downstairs neighbors with its 45 to 150 Hz rumble.

While I'd dispute Macworld's claim that these are the most stylish speakers in existence, they're definitely head-turners. Don't let the somewhat high list price fool you, either. I've seen these speakers selling for under £250 at online retailers, and I'm sure you can negotiate similar steep discounts from a local hi-fi shop. They're also available in North America; check the FH site for details.

Link: Ferguson Hill FH007 Multimedia Sound System

Review + Giveaway: "Who We Were" Snapshots Of A Square America

"Who We Were" is a squarish book befitting the square snapshots within. The authors are collectors of black and white snapshots, or “vernacular photography” as the fancy set likes to say. I've come to know Nicholas Osborn through our mutual fondness of home movies. He's displayed his curated collection of photos at museums, galleries, and on his website at www.squareamerica.com. He and his co-authors have chosen 350 amateur photos spanning some 80 years to tell the story of America in "Who We Were".

Spanning the decades from about 1890 through the 70's, "Who We Were" is a collection of amateur anthropology. These random snapshots found at thrift stores and flea markets could be our relatives doing all the important stuff in life; waving to airplanes, drinking a beer... and of course taking pictures of it all. It's doubtful that the original photographers sought to create art, but somehow when collected together these private yet shared memories take on the qualities of art photography.

The photos capture regular people being themselves, and the book wisely lets the photos speak for themselves too. Most pages feature a single picture annotated with anecdotes from the original photographers, or a reproduction of text written on the back of the picture. It only takes a few pages to travel silently between the finer moments of family life and some of the most unfortunate and shameful times in our history.

I'm sure no one thought taking a picture of yet another doughy guy soaking up 50's leisure would be important in the future.  I'm grateful to both the photographer for taking the picture, and to the authors of "Who We Were" for doing such a good job of keeping these little bits of history alive.

We live in a time where it's cheaper and easier than ever to take loads of digital photos. The problem is that few people print out pictures anymore. That means no artifacts for future generations (even our own families) to find. "The Way We Were" shows the continued historic value of physical media. Years from now will amateur historians dig through the piles of discarded cell phones to try to dig out grainy low res pictures of life today? I hope so. This book reminds us of what we owe the future - inadvertent art

Here's some great news... The authors gave us an autographed copy of their book to give away to one lucky Retro Thing reader. All readers are eligible to enter. All you have to do is add a comment to this post talking about your favorite snapshot. If you'd like, you can even upload a little version of it to share with all of our readers. Just say a few words about what makes it special to you. On February 7th, we'll pick one comment at random to win the book.

One additional note. Just like our last giveaway, if you're from outside the US or Canada we welcome your entry, but require that you cover the shipping costs to your country. Thanks for understanding, and good luck to all of you!

Bring a little piece of square America home by purchasing "Who We Were" at ten dollars off the cover price. As a bonus you'll receive a genuine vintage snapshot and a DVD of some of Nick's home movie collection.

You can also find the book at Amazon.com

Calling All UK Pinball Wizards

[Here's The Pinball Blog writer Nick Bennett to tell Retro Thing readers a little about his thing... -Ed.]

Pinball is enjoying a resurgence around the world. Well, maybe not so much in the arcades and bars and probably not as far as pinball manufacturing goes, but for collectors and enthusiasts it hasn't been this good for a long time. If you're in the USA, there are a number of great shows and events to attend -- the incredible Pinball Expo [in Chicago] for starters --  and no excuse to ever miss an event if you keep an eye on the fantastic Pinball News diary.

But I'm in the UK, seemingly a million miles from Expo and without the 'event every week' lifestyle of our lucky American friends, but it can't be that bad over here, can it?

Of course not.

2009 is the biggest ever year for pinball in the UK, and one of the most significant in the decades of pinball history worldwide. I organise the UK Pinball Show, which is in it's fifth year in 2009. There are other smaller meets and gatherings and a regional pinball league, but the UK Pinball Show is the big one.

Play Asteroids... Right Here, Right Now

"The year was 1979, and computers could only be made to draw two things: one was a line, and the other was also a line.  With clever arrangement, both these lines could be transformed into spaceships and big rocks and flying saucers and even more lines.  And so, thanks to the line pioneers at Atari, we were blessed with the line-tastic Asteroids.

Your spaceship floats in space and you have to destroy all the asteroids, but the more you shoot the more you create.  Watch out for the UFOs which can shoot back, and be careful: you only have one ship for every 10,000 points scored."

Visit Paul Neave's site to try your hand at Frogger, Space Invaders, Tetris or a browser-based planetarium app that cheerfully confirmed the bright shiny thing lurking above my garden shed last night to be Venus, not a hostile UFO. Thank the Gods.

Link: Neave Games

Turn An 8-Track Player Into An Equally Useful CB Radio

Bellsound understood the need of the 1979 driver & lo-fi audio bug. 8-track was still on the scene, but what if you still wanted to be part of the CB radio technology scene? (for those kiddies who don't know what CB is, think of it as a static filled analog of Twitter without the irritating 140 character limit)

Instead of rewiring a car to prepare for the power of the Citizen Band, the Bellsound C-8 fit a whole CB radio inside an 8-track compatible adapter. Chuck the whole device into the Craig 8-track in your stylin' El Camino, and you can tell the whole convoy to stick to double nickel because there's a bear in the air.

"Smokey and the Bandit" lingo aside, I had no idea that this kind of thing existed. I've seen plenty of 8 track adapters that played conventional cassettes, but none that were actually a little broadcast station. It sounds like a neat solution to adding CB to your car, but you'd still need a wire running to an aerial so it's not a completely clean fix. Does this also mean that you could CB enable other 8 track appliances, like your phony fireplace stereo or educational robot 2-XL?

Unfortunately you could only use one of these super-70's abilities at a time. That means that you couldn't be listening to an 8 track of Conway Twitty while at the same time you were telling all your good buddies that you were listening to Conway Twitty. Life is full of tough decisions like that.

P.S. to all those websites that like to borrow our content, thanks for spreading the word about Retro Thing - just please don't refer to this commercially available 70's product as a "hack". It makes me crazy when you guys do that.

[thanks to Pocket Calculator Show for the picture.]

Is The Bottom Falling Out On eBay?

I recently decided to put together a computer for my home entertainment system. I was able to scrounge most of the components from the basement, but I turned to eBay for a couple of things. Within a matter of days, I picked up a $2.49 Wireless-G internet card, a $9.99 Firefly remote control and some $5 memory. Even after shipping costs, I saved a fortune.

Intrigued, I explored the virtual aisles of eBay a bit more carefully. Things definitely weren't "business as usual." While many collectors' items still fetch good money, run-of-the-mill items aren't attracting as much interest. In fact, many respectable gadgets aren't getting any bids at all.

The used market seems to have dried up alongside the broader economy. That surprised me a tad, because I assumed bargain hunters would turn to sites like eBay in droves. Instead, many people are choosing to keep their wallets in their back pockets, even with amazing deals to be had. Dare I say it? The American bargain hunter is behaving like an endangered species.

The company confirmed my hunch a few days ago by reporting its first ever quarterly revenue decline. Gross merchandise volume was down a stunning 12% in the last three months of 2008, capping off a second consecutive quarter of decline. I suspect the first few months of 2009 will be even worse as people struggle to pay off Christmas overindulgence and fret about the future.

However, every cloud has a silver lining. If you have a few extra dollars to spare, this might be the perfect time to pick up a beautiful Super 8 camera, vintage turntable or 8-bit video game system for next to nothing. What do you think? Have you noticed a slowdown on eBay and other second-hand sites?

Explore The Internet Pinball Machine Database

It dawned on me the other day that I've never mentioned one of my favorite search engines:

"The Internet Pinball Machine Database — also known as the IPD or IPDB — is a comprehensive, searchable listing of virtually every pinball machine ever commercially made.  It is an ad free, popup free, registration free resource.  The database is constantly expanding, but currently includes 37,830 images of 5,075 games."

This amazing compilation of game info may come in handy if you find a bargain-priced machine listed on Craigslist or Kijiji. Simply look it up and you'll know in seconds if it's collectible. Each game is listed with a user-submitted "fun rating" that allows you to gauge its playability. My favorites? Attack From Mars and Gottlieb's classic The Amazing Spider-man.

Link: The Internet Pinball Machine Database

Polaroid Fanatics Gets Another Chance

A group of former Polaroid employees has formed Impossible b.v., aiming to resuscitate Polaroid's Instant Integral film plant in the Netherlands. I sincerely hope they succeed, although I can't help but wonder if this is more of an emotional decision than a sound business move.

The difficulty is that many die-hard Polaroid users bought as much instant film as they could afford when word broke that production was going to cease in the summer of 2008. That means the company's most lucrative customers might not purchase as much as hoped. Factor in a rotten economy and a lack of new cameras, it promises to be a tough slog.

Still, the company intends to work with Ilford Photo and Harman Technology to bring an innovative new type of film to market by 2010, "produced with a streamlined modern setup." Godspeed, gentlemen.

Link: The Impossible Project [thanks, Will Pinkham!]

Tommy Gun Movie Camera

"Very interesting and Rare military Gun outfit delivered for Vietnam War reporter, with case and 5x lenses." I actually have one of these riflestock camera supports.  It's awesome, though I doubt you could use one in public these days. This guy's is on eBay right this very second, if you've got money to burn...

eBay: Paillard Bolex H8 Military Gun outfit

Where To Find Regular 8mm Film

Kodak still manufactures Super 8 film cartridges, but there are millions of older home movie cameras that need a steady diet of Regular 8mm film (also known as Standard 8mm or Double 8mm) on spools.

Luckily, John Schwind offers a variety of specially cut Kodak stocks to keep your vintage 8mm camera running. His prices are remarkably low - $10 for a 25ft spool of Cine-X 100 ASA B&W film, or $16 for Kodak's beautiful Ektachrome 100 D color reversal stock.

For the uninitiated, Regular 8mm film comes on 25 or 100 ft reels. The film is 16mm wide and you expose one half of the film before flipping it to expose the other half. The film is split down the middle after processing, leaving you with 8mm wide film strips that you can run through a projector.

Regular 8 cameras - even the beautiful Swiss-made Bolex H8 - often sell for next to nothing because their owners are under the illusion that film is no longer available.

John Schwind: International Film Brokers

Affordable Skeleton Wristwatches

I get the urge to take apart each and every gadget that falls into my sweaty palms. It's an affliction that shows no signs of letting up, as my recently eviscerated and reassembled mobile phone will attest. However, I know better than to take my battered old chisel to a mechanical wristwatch. The tiny balance wheels and hairsprings tend to skitter halfway across the room at the slightest provocation. After a couple of disastrous encounters, I vowed never again to open the case of a working watch.

There is an elegant solution to my horological dilemma - a skeleton timepiece. These mechanical marvels reveal their inner secrets through transparent faces and crystal backs. They're often ridiculously expensive, though. That's why I was excited to discover the suspiciously affordable range of Stührling Original skeleton watches. While the company website alludes to a mysterious Swiss master watchmaking heritage, the timepieces are manufactured in Asia to keep prices low.

The Stührling Winchester Elite automatic retails for $249 on Amazon. The self-winding movement incorporates 20 jewels and the movement is hand engraved with blued steel screws. It's water resistant to a depth of 165 ft with a scratch-resistant sapphire front plate. Best of all, you can see what's going on inside without having to pry the thing open. It might not be a Swiss work of art, but it's good enough to bash around on the end of my arm.

Official site: Stührling Original Timepieces

1980's Sharp Wedge-Shaped Television Mystery

Last week when I was interviewed on the Mediageek radio show, I mentioned that Retro Thing is  fortunate to have a great and involved readership. One of my favorite things about all of you out there, true believers, is when we solve a retro mystery together. Every once in a while I come across some retro item that leaves me stymied, like the large wooden gear mystery or the Somnus sleep inducement device conundrum. No matter how obscure, our readers have the answer. So sharpen your wits – here's the next puzzler!

This Sharp TV is the 26LV96, it also says “Visual Integration System” in a couple places on the cabinet, as well as above a large multi conductor socket. The screen is probably 25” and has a glass panel that can pop off the font. There's also a composite video in and loop out (to share the same signal among several TV's), a 3” wide on/off button (easy to find in the dark?), and no audio nor tuner. Peering into the secret compartment on top there are controls for adjusting picture and even a push-button degauss. These are all unusual details to be sure – but look at the shape! 

The TV is an unorthodox wedge shape – the screen leans back at an angle. There isn't any bracket or stand missing to hold the TV upright – it's meant to have a slanted display. It is also really, really heavy. The sides are enameled wood, so it's classy and techy looking (a lot like today's laptops and LCD TV's that come in that glossy piano ebony finish that's designed primarily to show off fingerprints). The label on the back says the TV was built in 1986, but I don't remember TV's looking this cool back then.

Since there's no tuner or audio, I have a feeling that this might be a monitor intended as part of a store display rather than a TV a consumer could buy. I doubt it would have been part of a video wall since the CRT doesn't go to the front edges. The custom connector in back makes me think that perhaps a series of these monitors could be connected as part of some big display system. Perhaps this model sat on a stage while others stood on trusses or some other elaborate staging? I like it, and it's going to be the new home of Atari gaming in my house. Any ideas out there what this Visual Integration System monitor might have been for?

related:

General Electric's 1978 widescreen TV
1986 Zenith color portable TV - in yucky mauve!
Westinghouse portable TV mystery

Synth Pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey In New Music Video

Jean-Jacques Perrey has been making electronic music since at least the mid 50's. He was an early user of the Ondioline, a precursor to the modern synthesizer (few still exist today, though JJP still plays one in his rare live shows). He was one half of the duo that brought us the famous "The In Sounds From Way Out" LP that is considered the first ever mainstream electronic music (& musique concrète) album in 1966.

In recent years he's been collaborating with Dana Countryman, energetic synth maestro and creator of the much-missed "Cool & Strange Music" magazine (I still have my fifth anniversary bumper sticker!). The pair have just released another CD called "Destination:Space", and you should really check out the accompanying music video. Created as a present for Perrey's 80th birthday (and the rest of us), the material was shot in four hours on a green-screen stage, with the rest added by space-age computer graphics. Don't be shy about turning up the sound - the stereo effects in the music are killer!

I don't want to spoil anything by saying too much more, except that the video will put a smile on your face. Can someone please remind music video producers that every once in a while they could try to make a project that's this much fun?

Watch Funky Little Space Girl music video
Get the new Destination:Space CD
Perry's early works in one thrifty CD set

Watch Cult Classic "The Prisoner" For Free

I can't say enough about the tremendous 1960's British TV series "The Prisoner". I don't want to give away too much of the the 17 episodes that together tell a twisted tale. Psychedelia, pop psychology, and dystopic paranoia all met to synthesize a rare show that's not been equaled since. Never seen it?  How about checking out the opening montage that tells the series' entire backstory..

A while back, AMC & ITV announced that they were remaking the series. I am always wary of any remake, but am even more suspicious of taking another crack at such a singular series (especially with an American in the lead of a quintessentially British series). The locations, the pop art interiors, the influence of new wave filmmaking... could those perfectly balanced aspects work again outside of the 1960's? Any attempt to recreate the show is going to invite direct comparison to the classic show, so imagine my surprise when AMC announced that they were making the entire original series available to watch for free on the net.

The Prisoner has always been a critical darling, the kind of thing that people who are deeply into television (not just sci-fi or spy-fi fans) reference in reverent tones. Never a hit, the show has remained an enigma for decades. I would think that a new "reimagining" of The Prisoner would rely on audience's unfamiliarity with the original, but providing these episodes for free openly reminds audiences of the greatness of the original. The new series producers must be very confident of their new direction.

We lost Prisoner star and series creator Patrick McGoohan earlier this week. In interviews he'd said that he created the landmark series out of a sense of boredom with TV (and that was 40 years ago!). He famously turned down the roles of James Bond and Simon Templar as he tired of the super-spy image. Instead he applied his talents to subverting the whole genre by creating this influential series bringing counterculture themes and art house cinema thinking to the TV screen.

It's a rare tribute to McGoohan to offer the entire history-making series streamed for free (though I still recommend the DVD's, to see all that 60's eye-popping filmmaking at its best). I admire the sentiment behind it, and the bravery of the new producers. I will definitely be checking out the new show.

Be seeing you.

Free episodes of "The Prisoner" online
Get the complete series on DVD

Interview: Bohuš On Mediageek Radio Tonight

Paul Riismandel of Mediageek Radio has invited me to be a guest on his internationally syndicated show tonight . He discovered Retro Thing a while back, and asked me to come by to chat as well as field calls from listeners. The show starts at 9PM CST on WNUR in Chicago, and will run an hour. The show streams live at wnur.org if you'd like to be part of the fun, or you can check out the list of affiliates (rightmost column) who air the show and find out when you can hear the interview on a genuine super-hetrodyne radio.

I don't know what to expect, which is part of the excitement. This is my first time meeting the host - all I know is that he has a Sonic Impact T-amp which we've written about before. Hopefully some of you will call in the show to chat - I'd love to hear from you if you read Retro Thing! I'm going to bring along a few audio surprises if there's time to share.

[Update: the show started a few minutes late because of a live basketball game that ran long. We had a great chat for the remainder of the hour, and the complete show will be posted to the mediageek website soon. Paul invited me to come back, and in the future we'll be able to make time for listener calls and emails. Thanks to all of you who tuned in! Let us know what you thought in the comments section.]

Stream the show thanks to WNUR
Learn more about Mediageek Radio